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Video Description

Type: KIHASA Policy Featurette

Topic: What's your take on marriage? [Source: KIHASA Special - We Choose to Live Together: Non-Marital Cohabitation in Korea]

Guest Speaker: Dr. Byoun Soo-Jung, Research Fellow, Center for Child and Family Policy Research, KIHASA

Transcript

In the past, everyone thought you must get married when you grow up, viewing marriage as a must-do in life. But recently, the way people perceive marriage has really changed. According to Statistics Korea’s Social Survey, the number of people who said "it's okay to get married or not" went up from less than 30% in 2010 to 43% in 2022. This shows that marriage is becoming less of a must-do and more of a choice.  

In particular, women and younger people are more likely to believe that "marriage is a choice." For women, as they become more educated and employed, it doesn’t make as much sense to accept the traditional, unreasonable conditions of marriage that women faced in the past. For younger age groups, while still committed to the family, they’re more focused than previous generations on personal development and personal life, which reduces the need for marriage for them.